1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a preset fishing line tension measuring device for measuring fishing line tension preset in a drag, mechanism in fishing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A usual fishing line take-up reel has a drag mechanism for preventing the fishing line from being broken when pulled with a strong force or suddenly. For example, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 11-196731 discloses such a reel. This reel is given a braking force such that when the fishing line is pulled with a strong force in excess of the braking force, the fishing line is rewound-while being under a predetermined tension. The fishing line tension can be freely preset by controlling the braking force provided to the reel, and it is usually preset to about 20 to 30% of the break-strength of the Wishing line.
Techniques for measuring the fishing line tension preset in the drag mechanism are disclosed in, for instance, Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 8103195 and Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 7-23683. in the technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 8-103195, a torque sensor is assembled in a reel shaft such that it electrically reads out torque applied to the reel shaft when the reel shaft is rotated, and the circle diameter of the fishing line on the reel is computed with ultrasonic transmitting and receiving elements and used for determining fishing line tension. In the technique disclosed in the Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 7-23683, a sensor is set in a spring balance at a desired position thereof such that it generates a sound or light signal when a desired load is applied to the balance. The end of the fishing line is connected to the balance, and the fishing line tension is controlled with a drag mechanism by causing it to eat on the balance.
The technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosed No. 8-103195, however, requires assembling a torque sensor on the reel shaft and also providing ultrasonic transmitting and receiving elements and an arithmetic circuit. Therefore, the technique has a problem that its construction is inevitably complicated.
According to the Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 7-23683, it is necessary to pull out the fishing line would on the reel from the fishing rod end, connect the pulled-out fishing line to the spring balance and control the drag mechanism assembled in the reel in this state. Therefore, an inconvenience is felt that it is necessary to have the balance held by someone or secure the balance in some locality when adjusting the fishing line tension.
The invention was made in view of the above problems, and it has an object of providing a preset fishing line tension measuring device, which is simple in construction and permits ready and accurate fishing in tension measurement as well as being capable of being handily used.
In the preset fishing line tension measuring device according to the invention, a tension sensor, which is displaced such as to provide an increased length of path of fishing line between pair fishing line guides disposed in a spaced-apart relation to each other, senses a fishing line tension, and the sensed tension is displayed on a display part.
According to the invention, the pair fishing line guides and the tension sensor are of a pulley type.
Also according to the invention, the display part displays the fishing line tension as a rotation angle of a pointer, the tension sensor is disposed on a movable member, which is biased by a spring in the direction opposite to the fishing line tension acting on the tens on sensor, and the displacement of the movable member is enlarged by a gear mechanism while it is transmitted to a pointer in the display part.
Further according to the invention, a securing means for securing the measuring device to a fishing rod is provided.
Still further according to the invention, a pressure-electricity converting element for converting the fishing line tension sensed by the tension sensor to an electrical signal, is provided for displaying its output by a digital display.
Yet further according to the invention, the display and measuring parts are disposed in a remotely spaced-apart relation to each other.
In the use of the preset fishing line tension measuring device according to the invention, the fishing line wound on a reel is passed round first and second fishing line guides by also passing it round a tension sensor for providing an increased length of path of fishing line between the two fishing line guides to form a loop of the fishing line. In this state, by pulling the fishing line with a hand, the tension sensor senses the tension in the fishing line, and the sensed tension is displayed on the display part. It is thus possible to preset the fishing line tension to a desired level by adjusting the drag mechanism while watching the display on the display part, which is disposed near the reel. Besides, the construction is simple, and accurate tension-measurement is obtainable. Particularly, by employing a pulley type of the pair fishing line guides and tension sensor, it is possible to reduce the frictional resistance offered between each of the pulley type elements and the fishing line, and no extra force is needed when pulling the fishing line. The measuring device thus can be used more handily.
Furthermore, by adopting the display part to be of a dial type to display the tension as a rotation angle of the pointer, disposing the tension sensor on the movable member, which is biased in the direction to oppose the fishing line tension permitting the displacement of the movable member to be enlarged by the gear mechanism so as to drive the display part pointer with the enlarged displacement, even a slight displacement of the movable member can be enlarged by the gear mechanism, so that more accurate displacement of the pointer is obtainable.
Still further, with securing means provided to secure the measuring device to a fishing rod, when the fishing line is suddenly pulled, the tension sensor is also displaced and provides a buffering effect in addition to warping of the fishing rod and rewinding of the fishing line by the drag mechanism. It is thus possible to alleviate shock on the fishing line.
Furthermore, with the pressure-electricity converting element provided for conversion of the fishing line tension sensed by the tension sensor to an electric signal and digital display thereof on the display part, the movable member and the tension sensor may be less displaced, thus facilitating the size reduction. In this case, it is possible to dispose the display and measuring parts in a remotely spaced-apart relation to each other. By so doing, the freedom of status of use of the measuring device can be enhanced.